BOSS Ally McCoist hailed the influence of his older stars as they helped the team, which included three teenagers in midfield, overcome their stuffy visitors.

IT'S a cynical old world. Ally McCoist used the occasion of a winning goal from Lee Wallace to say the player brought from Tynecastle was a 90-minute man – and anybody trying to stop him would have to be fit to do it.

This conversation was taking place as Hearts were accusing Rangers of attempting to exploit their perilous financial situation by offering a cut-price deal to finalise Wallace’s pay-by-instalment transfer.

And it left the manager in the uncomfortable position of talking about Hearts being a “massive and integral part of Scottish football” while his club was apparently attempting to manipulate them for their own ends.

McCoist had to be given the benefit of the doubt when he said he’d no idea what financial arrangement had been offered to the Tynecastle club.

But his words of sympathy for Hearts were made to sound hollow by events elsewhere and that must have left him feeling embarrassed afterwards.

At least McCoist was in greater control of his own destiny – and reputation – on the park.

Rangers were efficient without being exceptional and watched by the second biggest crowd of the day in Britain. Their progress in the parallel universe that is Scottish football goes on with a plodding style of movement rather than electrifying pace.

Stray journalists from Barcelona stayed on in Glasgow after watching Celtic defeat the Catalans’ pride and joy in the Champions League to see what attracts 48,407 people to a Third Division match. They might now be back in their own country still wondering about the answer.

But there were elements of satisfaction for McCoist during the grinding deconstruction of a stuffy Peterhead defence who had come with the intention of frustrating the Rangers fans into a state of mutiny and almost pulled it off.

The manager’s midfield contained three teenagers and his trio of substitutes were also young enough to be called works in progress.

This is what the rebuilding of the club was supposed to look like post-liquidation. The second quarter of the Third Division championship has also started with Rangers looking to have finally completed their period of acclimatisation in the lower orders.

Peterhead were an obstinate, almost overwhelming, problem on their own ground when McCoist’s side first met them on the opening day of the league season.

Now Rangers appear to have got the hang of this league and its rough and ready ways. And Peterhead boss Jim McInally couldn’t buy a break during the process of Rangers finding their bearings.

When the first gilt-edged chance of the game fell to his striker Rory McAllister he hit the bar instead of the net and Peterhead’s chance to change the complexion of the game was squandered.

Ranger's Lee McCulloch scores his sides first goal of the game against Peterhead

When it looked as if the first half would end goalless and the crowd might turn on Rangers they scored a goal at the death that mortified the Peterhead defence.

What should separate Rangers from the rest in their league is a speed of thought and movement cultivated on a daily basis at Murray Park that can’t be matched by part-time teams.

When Lee McCulloch rose to head them in front he climbed above a static defence who had suffered another periodic loss of concentration during a distracted first half for them.

Only one more chance to score fell to the visitors midway through the second half and McAllister headed into Neil Alexander’s arms when there was the offer of a better ending for Peterhead.

That carelessness was punished by Wallace and McInally’s attempt to provoke the crowd’s anger by stifling Rangers fell short of its target as a consequence.

McInally said: “I’m not daft and I wasn’t going to have my team play in a gung-ho fashion.

“If we’d pushed forward the chances were they’d have picked us off and scored seven like they did against Alloa in the Scottish Cup.

“And I would’ve been left to pick up the pieces of a side I need to gather league points.

“The plan was to restrict Rangers and that didn’t change even after we went a goal down.

“I knew the fans would demand a second goal from Rangers and they scored at that point when the crowd was just starting to get edgy again.”

McInally’s philosophy going into the match couldn’t be faulted. This is how it looks like it’s going to be until the end of the season now Rangers have got used to their whereabouts.

For his part, McCoist admitted he’d happily settled for efficiency rather than the exceptional.

The manager’s received enough criticism for dropped points on days when Rangers were accused of not understanding the demands of their new environment.

But now he’s keeping the customers satisfied.

McCoist said: “We were solid and I’ll settle for that. We enjoyed having three teenagers in midfield but it’s only good for us if Rangers win matches and get promoted to the Second Division.

“I asked the older players to step up to the mark and give younger ones a guiding hand by putting the team’s needs before their own requirements.”

Slog it out and slug it out if necessary, that’s how Rangers will deal with their schedule for the remainder of the season, continuing with their visit to East Stirling on Saturday.

The kick-off’s been moved to lunchtime so Rangers TV can show the match live to those subscribers who can’t take up the limited space available at Ochilview.

There would’ve been a time when cynical fans wouldn’t have opened their curtains to watch if Rangers had been playing the Shire in their garden, never mind pay for the privilege of seeing it on the telly.